P-spec tunnel

Hey Guys,

I would like to put together a spec tunnel but have no clue what I need besides money.Lol. I have several hulls, radio gear and an O.S. lower. Everything else is a mystery. Motor to lower adapter? Motor and speed control? Batteries and charger? What brands to buy? Help!

Thanks,

Mike

Kris Flynn in AUS makes a very nice adaptor for the OS Lower unit , Get his cables too.Hes on here often .

Are you going to race ? or sport run. Some clubs have different rules.

A lot of us run the UL1 motor and esc. 4S1P lipo around 5000 mah . Make a radio box big enough for the Lipo , ESC ,RX ,servo , ect.

Other wise , its set up like a nitro tunnel.

Flyguy55 said:

Kris Flynn in AUS makes a very nice adaptor for the OS Lower unit , Get his cables too.Hes on here often .

Are you going to race ? or sport run. Some clubs have different rules.

A lot of us run the UL1 motor and esc. 4S1P lipo around 5000 mah . Make a radio box big enough for the Lipo , ESC ,RX ,servo , ect.

Other wise , its set up like a nitro tunnel.

Click to expand...

Flyguy55,

I will be racing it in D3. What brand of charger works best? How many Lipo's do I need for a race day? VS1, TS2 or Sniper hull? I'll get with Kris on the adapter and cables. Have a prop suggestion?

Thanks,

Mike

The most popular setup in the Pacific Northwest is a VS-1 with the center section modified to take either 2-2S 4000 or 1-4S 4000 lipos. Hyperperformance makes adapters to K&B style lower units. See http://hyperprod.bizhosting.com/3_5_electric_outboard_conversion_kit.html The best chargers are Hyperion, though less expensive balancing chargers will work, but they can't charge as fast. The UL-1 motor with a Grim Racer 42 x 55 prop is one combination. The UL-1 speed control also works well, but the lower amp Castle controllers or others may have a very slight advantage and are allowed under the local rules. Below is my Leecraft XRT 21 racing Brian Buaas' Top Speed.

Lohring Miller

Mike here are some pictures of my VS1 conversion... Other than buying a square dirve coupler for the motor from fullers fast electrics, I used stuff I had in the basement...

You can get a motor, controller, and cooling jacket from Steven for $160.00

http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/proddetail.php?prod=dh-aqcom-2030

I would recomend using 4S pack of 4300 up. Something similar to these

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXXLW6&P=**Missing Data** or http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXXLX5&P=**Missing Data**

As far as chargers, I would reccomend something from the Hyperion Brand. They seem to be the most popular right now. Somthing like this has the balancer internal

http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/proddetail.php?prod=rcl-hyp-eos0606i-acdc or this charger is 2 built into one (very very nice) http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/proddetail.php?prod=rcl-hyp-eos0615i-DV3

One thing to keep in mind about the Hyperion 0606i Charger. It is convenient being AC/DC however it's output is only 50 watts, so it' going to take around an hour and a half to charge one 4S, 5000 mAh pack. If P-spec Tunnel is the only FE class you will run, it will be fine. If you ever decide to do other FE classes, you will need to upgrade. The Duo chargers are awesome. In D12 we ususally run only 2-3 heats per class a day. One battery is really all you need but I always bring at least two. The Turnigy 4S 40C 5000 packs at www.hobbycity.com are a nice economy pack and many race with them (I do). The Hyperion "G3" 35C 4200 packs are on the high end and are top quality. You always want to get the highest "C" rating packs you can. The higher the C rating equals more power and they finish the race the cooler which increases their life. One last thing, Lipo packs have balancing taps that balance the voltage to individual cells in the pack while charging. Unfortunately there is no standard when it comes to taps and there are about a half dozen different styles. So if you get a different brand battery than charger, there is a pretty good chance you will have to get an adapter. The good news is they are cheap and just about all charger manufactures have taps available for most batteries. Don't skimp on a cheapo charger!

Check with D 3 guys on controlers . Some Districts require spec ESCs.

I use Hyperion Duo chargers . You can get buy with 1 lipo pack at at race by charging at 2 C ( twice the lipo MAH rating ) as long as your using 30 C packs or better . 40 , 45 C packs run cooler are common now.

I have al least 2 Lipo packs for each boat I race .

The VS1 is good . I have a Villian, and just finished a Cobra . I think its the same hull as the Sniper . I've seen 1 Cobra P spec run and It looked very good. Both were designed for the OS lower .

Kris is the only one I know that makes cables , couplers , and adaptors for OS lowers .

Start with something like a X 440 and check for heat of lipos , esc , and motor. Make first runs short , not more then 1 min , check temps.

When the boats is set up right you can try more prop.

Electric set ups will try to turn any prop you try untill something melts , or lets the smoke out. That why you should try smaller props and short runs at first . Most guys use 140 deg as the limit.

You can turn bigger props with the Black Jack or SV27 motor at less RPM. The UL 1 motor has less torque and more RPM . Guys are successful with any of them .

Spec OPC is fun racing .

Can I add a suggestion, the Vision 20 from Shawn Junker is an AWSOME boat. I have mine setup (these days) for P-Spec and it is damm good. I did have a 1515 1y on the back going speeds 55+ but not as fun as racing it with Spec power.

So Kris will i get to battle it out with you in a few weeks....

P-spec Vision VS Villain.

Should be great fun...

Stressed here mate, if your not doing much in the office give us a call one of these days. :blink:

__________________________________________

Has anyone tested the higher end batteries, Hyperion, PolyRC, Thunder power in a P-spec setup compared to the turnigy cells. Im thinking of getting a few turnigy for stock classes in the future. Are they putting out the volts under load. I like the cheaper option of cells and it would be a cheap option, only if the cells get the life span etc.

Cheers

Dave

Great info guys!

Kris,

I was going to use one of the hulls I have. Shawn's hulls are really good. I have to race against him here in D3. If I was going new I probably would try another Lynx.

Any other options for an adapter to O.S.?

OK need to see what ESC's are allowed in D3.

Is that high end charger ac/dc? It doesn't look like it is. Do you charge your batteries at the race or at home?

Keep the info coming. This is great help.

Thanks,

Mike

Most of the medium/high power chargers are DC only. You can just charge at home if you have enough packs. LiPo's hold their charge very well. You could bring a Deep Cycle battery or generator to charge at the races but that may be overkill if your running only one boat with a single LiPo pack (unless you share with other FE racers). You could also just charge off your car/truck in the parking lot. Some don't recommend it but it worked for me when I was just starting out.

You will need a fully charged pack before each heat. So, you either charge your pack between rounds, or bring multiple packs fully charged. At FE events, most charge their packs between each round.

OK ordered the UL-1 motor and ESC.

Need adapter if anyone knows where I can get one. (O.S.)

What is a cap bank and what does it do? Do I need one?

Next to order at least one battery so I can get going on the radio box. Any last suggestion?

Lots of opinion on Lipos . Enterland , Thunder Power , Neu , Hyperion are all good .

Its easier if the charger and lipo balance plugs are compatible . Yes you can get or make adaptor cords , but it gets more complacated for some one new . If your going with a Hyperion charger , I'd go with Enterland , Poly RC ( same thing ) or Hyperion .

One good place is RC lipos . Good service , free shipping . Read up on charging Lipos and balancing them .

Mike Culhane said:

OK ordered the UL-1 motor and ESC.

Need adapter if anyone knows where I can get one. (O.S.)

What is a cap bank and what does it do? Do I need one?

Next to order at least one battery so I can get going on the radio box. Any last suggestion?

Click to expand...

Mike Culhane said:

Need adapter if anyone knows where I can get one. (O.S.)

Click to expand...

The one Kris Flynn makes is a work of art. Failing that, you could always make one from 4 lengths of alluminium tube, 4 long screws and a piece of aluminium or CF plate as shown in the pic attached. Thanks to James Clegg for this pic BTW.

Tim_Duggan said:

Mike Culhane said:

Need adapter if anyone knows where I can get one. (O.S.)

Click to expand...

The one Kris Flynn makes is a work of art. Failing that, you could always make one from 4 lengths of alluminium tube, 4 long screws and a piece of aluminium or CF plate as shown in the pic attached. Thanks to James Clegg for this pic BTW.

Click to expand...

Great picture Tim. I can make one like that.

Where can I get the motor shaft to flex cable coupler?

Anyone have a picture of Kris' adapter?

Is it best to have the ESC close to the motor or does it not matter?

Does the radio system have it's own battery?

Many speed controller including the UL1 have what whats called a BEC or battery eliminiation circuit. This takes the power from the main pack and supplies power to the reciever. In high power applications, most prefer a seperate reciever battery but for spec power the BEC works well and saves you some weight to boot.

The "cap" in cap boards refer to capacitors. I'm going to oversimplify what they do because I'm not a EE, but my understanding is extra capacitors prevent ripple current from harming your contoller. Ripple current is rapid spikes in voltage when the battery pack has a big load on it. The capactors store energy and smooth out the spikes when the voltage drops. Things that can cause ripple current include using battery packs with a low "C" rating in a high amp set up and having very long battery wires between the controller and battery (usually greater than 8 inches). I have read other benefits for using extra caps/cap boards but I can't recall them at this time.

Are they necessary? The first generation UL1 controllers had problems blowing capacitors when they were pushed hard but the latest version have a much larger capacitor and reported problems have gone way down. Still, some install extra caps for added insurance in their spec boats and some don't. I have cap boards in three of my FE's that draw over 100 amps but not my Spec rigger. That doesnt mean I may add them later though.

Hyperformance and Fullers have the 5mm to O/B flex cable adapters. I have the Hyperformance one on my UL1 / REK lower.

OzBryan sent me a pic of his Kris Flynn made OS adapter but I can't find it now. Maybe if you ask OzBryan he could send you a photo of it.

If your going to use an OS leg.. just get the one Kris makes.. its really nice and light too!

He also has the adaptors i use his because it fits the hole in his adaptor..

Heres the link http://s783.photobucket.com/albums/yy111/Ozbryan/Boats/?action=view&current=FEsetup.jpg